Determination of alkali and alkaline earth elements along with nitrogen in uranium based nuclear fuel materials by ion chromatography (IC)

An accurate and sensitive ion chromatographic (IC) method with suppressed conductivity detection is described for determination of traces of Na, K, Mg and Ca along with nitrogen in uranium based materials. The method involves matrix separation after sample dissolution by hydrolyzing and filtering off the polyvalent cations. Transition elements interfering in the determination of Ca were removed by cation exchange cartridge containing iminodiacetate resin. Detection limits were between 2 and 6 μg L−1 and overall precision were better than ±5%. Recovery of spiked cations was in range from 96% to 104%. Results obtained were in good agreement with other methods.